Poynter Welcomes Google Journalism Fellow, Medill Resident; Digital Media Fellow Jeff Sonderman Named Adjunct Faculty

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Poynter Institute, an international leader in journalism education, has announced two new Fellows: Multimedia storyteller and data journalist Anna Li becomes Poynter's first Google Journalism Fellow while Northwestern University student Taylor Thomas has been selected as Poynter's first Medill Journalism Resident.

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"Fellows have brought excellent skills and new ideas to Poynter and Anna and Taylor have the tools to follow that tradition," said Poynter President Karen Dunlap. "We are grateful to our partners at Google and Medill and we look forward to the Fellows' arrival this spring."

Li will graduate in June from Stanford University with a master's degree in journalism and broad experience in social media research. She earned a B.A. in communication at the University of Southern California where she graduated summa cum laude in 2011 with minors in marketing and French. Immediately following her Google Fellowship, Li will continue on at Poynter as a Naughton Fellow through June 2014. Poynter's Naughton Fellowship – named for former Poynter President and Philadelphia Inquirer Editor James Naughton – offers recent college grads an opportunity to produce innovative journalism on the Poynter website while participating in seminars, workshops and discussions about journalism and its future.

"We're delighted to reinstate the year-long Naughton Fellowship, which began in 1999 and has helped launch eight young journalists into successful careers," said Mallary Tenore, Managing Editor of Poynter.org and former Naughton Fellow (2007). "It's an amazing opportunity for a young journalist to gain practical experience at an institute that values professional growth."

Tenore was recently named among 50 top female innovators in digital journalism by journalism.co.uk. Additionally, she was a 2012 Mirror Awards finalist. Other Naughton Fellows include Tran Ha (1999), Associate Managing Editor of RedEye; Matt Thompson (2003), Editorial Product Manager at NPR; and Robin Sloan (2003), writer and media inventor.

A Medill broadcast student, Thomas will spend 11 weeks in residency at Poynter this spring. Journalism Residency students work fulltime for and alongside veteran journalists in professional environments, gaining hands-on experience that will help them develop new skills, test old skills, work under deadline pressure, hone their news judgment, sharpen fact-checking and research skills, explore new career paths and build confidence in their capabilities. This is the first time Poynter has been selected as a Medill Residency site.

Jeff Sonderman, who has served as Poynter Digital Media Fellow for two years, has been named Adjunct Faculty as he begins a new position as Deputy Director with the American Press Institute. He will continue to contribute to Poynter by teaching about innovations and strategies for mobile platforms and social media in online news. Poynter's adjunct faculty teach in seminars throughout the year, lending additional expertise in several areas, including core skills and values, multimedia, and journalism education.

"Joining Poynter two years ago has given me the opportunity through writing and teaching to help decode the ever-changing landscape of digital journalism and to work alongside amazingly talented and supportive Poynter colleagues. I'm looking forward to continuing that rewarding work and advancing Poynter's important mission by teaching as an adjunct faculty."

About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is an international leader in journalism education, and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world's largest online journalism curriculum, with more than 250 interactive courses and 240,000 students. The Institute's website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world's top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.

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SOURCE The Poynter Institute